


Stop & Shop Love Story

by listenup_folks



Category: fifth harmony - Fandom
Genre: Cause I had too, F/F, grocery store au
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-01-05
Updated: 2017-01-05
Packaged: 2018-09-15 03:15:49
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,897
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9216215
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/listenup_folks/pseuds/listenup_folks
Summary: The one where Lauren hates her job and Camila keeps spilling food in the aisles





	

**Author's Note:**

> Wattpad : longerr_hours

Lauren hates her job. 

The registers beeping that rings in her head every day, the annoyingly scratchy speaker, the obnoxious customers bombarding her with questions and demands. She’d quit in a heartbeat if she had the choice. 

Unfortunately she’s seventeen years old and she’s becoming “too dependant on her parents money, especially with college coming up” according to her dad so Stop & Shop seems to be the only option. There aren’t many other places that hire teenagers because they don’t have any experience and Lauren babysits plenty for pocket cash, but she needed to start saving and this Stop & Shop happens to be on the street next to her school so the timing is much more convenient. 

But anyways she hates her job. It’s not just the tedious cash register working and occasional stockpiling, the worst part is actually the customers themselves. Okay maybe Lauren is just cynical and maybe she hates like everybody other than a select handful, but that’s not the point, the customers she has to deal with are the most obnoxious, irritating people she’s ever come face to face with. 

Don’t get her wrong, some customers win respect including the parents she sees on her night shifts running around to feed their families, and as much as she hates the couponers cause they make her job harder, Lauren can’t hate someone for being smart with their money. 

No she hates the obnoxious moms pushing their way through aisles to buy their spoiled kids all the expensive treats, or the young guys that try to hit on her as she bags their food (like seriously? Even if she’s the hottest person in the world these mid twenty year old guys should have higher standards than a grocery bagging high schooler), or the closed minded douchebags who think a girl can’t properly be doing the job right and “why is it so damn expensive”, like bitch you tell her you’re the one eating the food. 

She could probably rant for hours because this job just sucks more than she ever thought it would, and she always thought it would, but she’s not trying to seem salty (although she is in fact so salty you might as well call her beef jerky). 

Like right now. 

Who the fuck thinks it’s okay to drop a jar of… pickles? and leave it without at least telling a worker? You aren’t even charged for that here, it’s simply to inform someone that there needs to be a clean up. And damn it usually they call custodial for that but now that Lauren’s the unlucky one who happened to stumble upon this shit she’s also the one dealing with cleaning it-

“Oh hey! I was looking everywhere for a worker but the cashiers said it isn’t their job and to find someone else to deal with this,” a voice calls Lauren’s attention from where she had been focused on glaring at the broken jar, her eyes stay focused on the jar though, luckily it’s not completely shattered so she doesn’t have to close the isle off, just spilled and cracked at the top and maybe - “I’m so sorry about this I was trying to reach the Lucky Charms on the top shelf and I was trying to climb up maybe cause I’m an idiot and I didn’t even think about what I could kick but I can pay for it or I can clean it myself I’m so sorry again about that.” 

Now Lauren has dealt with a lot of customers coming to tell her that they’re spilled or broken stuff, and they never ramble like that, usually inform her and then leave before she can ask them to inform someone else. 

Her eyes snap up when the voice starts to sound even more nervous at the end of her rambling and she swears her breath catches in her throat when she’s met with one of the most beautiful people she’s had the pleasure of seeing. She’s tiny, Latina, curves so gorgeous lauren can’t help but let her eyes linger, hair dark and falling in waves, and her lips god they look like the softest pair Lauren’s seen ever, and her eyes they’re so chocolatey and warm and homey and - fuck also looking back at her Lauren notices and snaps out of her thoughts to focus on the issue at hand. 

“It’s fine,” Lauren gets out, not knowing how to talk to someone here without snapping at them and she sure as hell doesn’t want to snap at this girl. This girl who happens to still look terrified at the consequences of breaking a jar, as if a grocery store worker is going to care. “It happens on the time, really it’s no big deal,” Lauren says in attempt to stop the shorter girl from worrying anymore. 

The mystery girl for her part lets out a breath of relief and runs a hand through her messy hair, looking down anxiously at the mess before meeting Lauren’s eyes again and blushing when she meets the green. “I’m just… can I at least help you clean it up?” she offers, seemingly not knowing what to say but still feeling bad about the mess. 

“I don’t clean it,” Lauren lies swiftly, she knows she could just deny the help but the girl is worrying her bottom lip between her teeth and Lauren can see how bad she feels in her eyes and she doesn’t want the girl to think she’s making Lauren’s job harder. “I just have to call custodial and they get paid to do specifically this so you’re fine, okay? Trust me it’s not a big deal,” Lauren reassures, keeping eye contact until the other girl nods and lets out another deep breath. 

The brown eyed beauty stays where she’s standing for a moment, at first holding Lauren’s gaze with a small blush covering her cheeks, but then her eyes nervously glance up and then down to the floor again. 

 

“Umm.. you can go if you need to finish your shopping..?” Lauren trails off and the girl flinches and breathes in and Lauren is confused. 

At first Lauren doesn’t get it. Why she’s still standing there at all considering usually she tells the customer to fuck off and does a half assed job cleaning up.Then she realizes she’s still here because the girl needs those Lucky Charms and who’s going to help her reach them if Lauren isn’t still there?

Lauren lets out a laugh at the realization that mystery girl was embarrassed to ask for help and was planning on waiting for Lauren to leave to try again for the reach, but stops laughing when brown eyes snap up, blush growing when Lauren nods towards the cereal with a grin. 

The girl nods smiling and laughing at herself as Lauren reaches up, standing on her tiptoes to reach the cereal and handing the box over to the girl who smiles even more gratefully once their eyes meet. 

“Sorry I’m being weird I just, I feel really bad and you’re also really pretty and I suck around pretty girls and shit why do I say things like that out loud I’m so sorry I’m rambling and awkward and shit sorry I just, what I should be saying is thank you Lauren,” the girl rambles on and by the end her face is red as a tomato and Lauren smiles back at the adorable girl’s nervousness and tries not to blush herself at being called pretty by someone so pretty, but confusion must cross her eyes because Camila answers her question with an added, “you have a name tag,” and Lauren smiles and nods remembering. 

“Yeah, no problem,” Lauren says back quickly, “And you’re fine really, people spill stuff all the time and they’re not this adorable so you’re beyond fine,” Lauren smiles back and Camila blushes before saying another thank you and spinning on her heels and leaving the aisle.

So Lauren now has a broken jar of pickles, a nameless beauty, and still a shitty job, but if she gets to meet more girls like that then maybe it’s not as shitty as it appears. 

 

So maybe she should’ve asked that brown eyed girl what her name was, because for some reason she hasn’t left Lauren’s mind one over the past week. Whenever Lauren hears a “cleanup on aisle -” on the speaker she can’t help but think maybe it’s her. It never is, or at least Lauren doesn’t think it is because she’s always on cashier duties and she never sees the girl pass the check out section. So she bags peoples food and takes their money for a week while hating her job. 

It happens again when she’s changing the stickers that say what sales are in the candy section. She hears the crash and by nature her first thought is “holy fucing fuck” because messes and noises annoy her, but her immediate second thought is the Latina mystery girl.

That’s the thought that sends her in a fast jog slash walk towards the next aisle where she heard the crash, and sure enough she’s greeted with the sight of a broken jar of pickles, two boxes of Lucky Charms, and a gorgeous brunette with her face buried in her hands. 

“We’ve gotta stop meeting this way,” Lauren pipes up as she eyes the girl who’s lifted her head and is bashfully smiling with a blush covering her face. She perks up by the sight of Lauren but she’s obviously embarrassed by the clumsy move. 

“I’m so sorry,” she gets out once again covering her face with her hand in embarrassment after she speaks. “I swear I don’t know how that happened I had the box in my hand then I just - I guess I flailed a little bit but - hey don’t laugh at me,” she pouts and if Lauren was flirty she’d comment about wanting to kiss it off but she’s more into hating everyone, this girl is an exception though so she’ll just say it’s cute. 

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry,” Lauren chuckles, holding her hands up in defense, “but you keep breaking my pickles, I’m allowed to laugh if I want,” she teases and the brown haired girl blushes deeply again and trying to keep pouting but failing because Lauren’s teasing is making her giggly. “But hey, at least you got the Lucky Charms down yourself this time, right?” Lauren grins as she reaches to pick up the box and hand it to the girl. 

“Hmm, maybe I should start wearing heels,” the girl ponders and Lauren giggles and woah since when does Lauren giggle? “Maybe not though, I’m sure I’d knock more things down falling in heels than I do jumping in converse,” the Latina grins and Lauren smiles back.

“Or you can come track me down, I can be like your personal reacher,” she jokes and the stranger laughs at her comment for a minute before sobering.

“Thank you once again Lauren,” she grins and turns to toss the cereal into her nearly empty wagon (the only things in it are doritos, bread, and pancake mix), “and I’ll have to hold you to that, might add some time but will surely save you from having to clean so much up.”

“Well I’ll be here,” Lauren says back as she crosses her arms and smiles, “I usually get stuck with the afternoon shifts so if you’re looking that’s where you’ll find me.” 

“I’ll note that, but I should get going, obviously I have a lot to finish getting and I should let you get back to work…” the girl trails off looking down at the mess she made, “sorry again.”

“It’s completely fine, don’t stress for a second like I said last time it happens all the time,” Lauren answers with a shrug. She doesn’t mind this girl doing it because she’s pretty and nice and polite and adorable, if everyone who spilled things was this nice then Lauren wouldn’t hate her job so much. “But I’ll let you go, good luck shopping.”

Camila shoots her a nod and smile before turning for her wagon and walking away. Lauren’s eyes are focused on her ass because god that’s a nice ass so it’s not until the girl is about to be out of sight that she snaps out of it. 

“Wait!” Lauren yells and the brunette stops in her tracks and spins to face Lauren. “What’s your name?”

The girl’s smile goes from light bulb to fucking sun shine brightness before she yells back in an enthusiastic voice, “Camila.”

 

It takes another two weeks for it to finally happen again. 

Now as a softball player, Lauren usually associates the number three with “three strikes you’re out”. But when she hears the clashing of glass on the ground when she’s trying to find Harry for their switch in shifts, she’s hoping maybe third time will be the charm instead. 

Now that she knows Camila’s name is Camila she’s had her eyes out on social media but she hasn’t found the girl’s account and she’s not about to creep until she finds her (that one time on instagram last Friday doesn’t count). She hasn’t lost hope though and she’s glad because when she turns into the familiar aisle she’s met with the beautiful sight of Camila running her hands through her hair and throwing her head back with a frustrated groan. Oh and also the sight of pickles all over the floor but that isn’t concerning her at the moment. 

“I’m starting to think you do this on purpose,” Lauren jokes as she makes her way over, Camila’s head snapping down when she hears her and noticing Lauren for the first time.

“Don’t start, I was so close this time I swear,” Camila frowns, pointing up to the Lucky Charms that are basically hanging off the edge of the shelf. “God I should just start eating the adult cereal like my mom always says,” she huffs, crossing her arms and glaring at the plain Cheerios the are a shelf lower and in perfect reach. 

“Don’t let broken jars ruin your breakfast,” Lauren jokes but the look Camila gives her tells her that maybe breakfast isn’t something to joke about. “Okay but really Camila it isn’t a big deal.”

“I know you always say that I just, are you sure I’m not supposed to pay for it or anything?” Camila asks and Lauren can’t help but giggle at the way she lowers her voice in the end as if they’re going to get caught discussing very serious things. 

Truth is they have a policy that after a warning the customer is supposed to pay, but Lauren doesn’t mind paying the five dollars it is for the jar of pickles, if even that much. She doesn’t think Camila should have to pay, if anything the store should be required to have little ladders just so Camila can reach things without risking injury.   
“Camz, I’ve told you both times and I’m telling you a again you do not have to worry about anything. If anything I’m sorry that you keep almost getting hurt,” Lauren says, leveling the nervous girl, wanting to reassure her that she’s not a bother. She would tell her that seeing her in the store every now and then makes her job a hundred times less miserable to her but she feels like that might be too forward. 

“Okay fine but only since you’re persistent,” the brown eyed girl smiles and Lauren returns it. “I really wanna help somehow but if you’re really sure there’s nothing I can do?”

Now or never right?

“Go out with me,” Lauren says in a gentle but demanding voice and she doesn’t let her confident appearance fade because that’s how you get girls to like you according to Zayn who she reluctantly had to ask for advice. 

Camila stands like a fish out of water for a moment with wide eyes filled with surprise and Lauren doesn’t know how to read it but the girl is blushing and kind of smiling with her eyes so she assumes it can’t be too bad. After what feels like forever she finally speaks, “I’m sorry like a, like-”

“Like a date?” Lauren cuts in and Camila is still so shocked that all she can do is nod confirming and Lauren chuckles softly. “I mean unless you don’t want to, then you could just give me your number maybe?” she asks again, not wanting to make Camila uncomfortable but hoping she’s read their interactions correctly and Camila is into girls. 

“Umm… yeah I umm, sorry I’m just, I didn’t think, god you;re just so pretty I’m overwhelmed and once again talking too much,” Camila stutters out and now a deep blush is covering her cheeks and she does that cute thing she always does where she buries her face into her hands momentarily before letting out a deep breath. “I’d like that, the date I mean, and the number since that kinda goes along with it I guess.”

“So that’s a yes?” Lauren asks with a small playful smirk that makes Camila laugh before nodding enthusiastically.

“A definite yes,” she replies, smiling at Lauren before reaching into her purse for her phone. 

Maybe working at Stop & Shop isn’t the worst job she could’ve gotten.

**Author's Note:**

> Idk where this came from and it's short but let me know what you think?


End file.
